The invention relates to improvements in fittings for current consuming devices, and more particularly to improvements in fittings which can be utilized with advantage to connect the contact pins of halogen lamps with an energy source. Still more particularly, the invention relates to improvements and further developments of fittings of the type described and shown in commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 4,927,389 granted May 22, 1990 to Helmut Willnat and Manfred Meichsner for "Fixture for multiple-contact pin halogen lamps". The disclosure of this patent is incorporated herein by reference.
The patent to Willnat et al. discloses a fitting which has a contact for each pin of a halogen lamp and comprises means for biasing each such contact against the respective pin to thus establish an electrical connection between the inserted pin and a conductor.
A drawback of heretofore known fittings for use in combination with halogen lamps or with other current consuming devices having plural contact pins is that the area of contact between a pin and the adjacent contact is too small to invariably guarantee the establishment of a reliable connection between the current consuming device and the terminals or poles of a source of electrical energy. For example, the contacts in certain known fittings are bent at the inlets of the recesses for reception of contact pins in order to facilitate the introduction of contact pins between the contacts and the adjacent abutments for properly inserted or fully inserted contact pins. The contact pins are relatively short so that the absence of direct engagement with contacts at the inlets is likely or bound to affect the reliability of electrical connections.
German Utility Model No. 1,940,985 to Brokelmann et al. (published Jun. 23, 1966) discloses a fixture wherein the contacts are made of resilient material and must be pushed or pulled to their retracted positions by hand in order to provide room for conductors. Once the conductors are properly inserted into the respective recesses of the socket, the contacts are released to engage the inserted conductors under the action of coil springs. The purpose of the manually movable contacts is to ensure predictable introduction of readily deformable (highly flexible) conductors into their recesses, and reliable retention of introduced conductors in response to engagement with the contacts when such contacts are released and can be acted upon by the respective springs. The contacts must be retracted by hand against the opposition of the respective springs if a person in charge wishes to extract the conductors from their recesses in the socket.
German Utility Model No. 1,940,983 of Brokelmann et al. (published Jun. 23, 1966) discloses a fitting for conductors which extend beyond the ends of the jackets of cables and are to be clampingly engaged by polygonal resilient contacts in the respective recesses of a socket. The inserted conductor is clamped by the adjacent polygonal contact and is biased against a second contact which is fixedly installed in the socket. The manner in which the inserted and clamped conductor is to be connected with the contact pins of lamps or the like is not disclosed. A properly inserted conductor is confined in a channel between the two contacts.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,869,105 granted Jan. 13, 1959 to Pistey discloses a bi-pin fluorescent lamp holder. The patentee is concerned primarily with the attachment of lead wires to contacts in the lamp holders. The contact pins of the fluorescent lamp are removably inserted into the respective lampholders by turning the envelope of the lamp until the contact pins snap into recesses which are provided therefor in pairs of V-shaped notches of the contacts. The contact pins maintain the contacts in stressed condition but are not urged against any abutments while in inserted positions.